Sha Dingzhou ran away.
He left Chen Changming behind and fled with the chieftain soldiers of the third line of defense, along with their families and various daily necessities.
They went down the mountain from the back, and then rushed to the Qigelung old village without stopping, leaving Chen Changming to fight alone.
Chen Changming was soon surrounded by Ming troops.
"Surrender and you won't be killed!" The Ming army began to force surrender.
The chieftain's soldiers looked at each other, at a loss as to what to do.
In the Ming army, Shiping Tusi Long Zaitian stepped forward and said loudly: "Chen Changming, Sha Dingzhou is at the end of his rope. There is no way out if we follow him. It is better to surrender to the court as soon as possible to save the lives of ourselves and our brothers."
Chen Changming smiled bitterly: "I want to do that, but treason is a capital crime. Even if you surrender, you will still die!"
"How do you know if you don't surrender?" Long Zaitian continued to persuade.
"Alas!" Chen Changming sighed, "There are only a few people who know themselves, and I, Chen, happen to be one of them."
As he spoke, he wiped the knife clean with his sleeve and put it back into the scabbard.
Just when Long Zaitian thought he was going to surrender, Chen Changming turned to his soldiers and said, "Brothers, treason is a capital crime! I am responsible for my own actions, and it has nothing to do with you!"
"Put down your weapons and surrender to the Ming army immediately, so you have a chance to avoid death."
"Where are you, Lord Chen?" asked the chieftain's soldier.
"Me?" Chen Changming laughed: "I have my own destiny."
The chieftain's soldiers looked at each other and made different choices.
Some put down their weapons, walked to the front of the Ming army and knelt down to surrender.
Some stood there, at a loss.
There were more than a hundred people holding weapons and surrounding Chen Changming, ready to fight to the death.
Long Zaitian was about to continue persuading him but was stopped by Li Dingguo.
He called out to the crowd: "Anyone else surrender?"
The hesitant soldier looked around, dropped his weapons, knelt in front of the Ming army and chose to surrender.
Li Dingguo nodded, "Since you have made your choice, then accept the judgment of your choice!"
"kill!"
Following his order, the Ming army thrust their spears down fiercely.
Chen Changming quickly drew out his sword to block.
Within the small encirclement, lives gradually disappeared as blood flowed.
Fight till the end, no one survives.
Li Dingguo glanced at Chen Changming's body and ordered those around him, "Leave a few dozen people to bury these people on the spot, and the rest of you continue to attack the mountain."
Li Dingguo thought there would be another tough battle, but he didn't expect that the camp was already empty.
"Run away?" Li Dingguo was a little bit unbelievable.
He had seen cowardly people, but he had never seen anyone as cowardly as this.
"Report!" A small leader quickly ran over and knelt on one knee: "Report to the general, we have captured dozens of women and children in the back mountain who didn't have time to escape. According to them, Sha Dingzhou has abandoned the camp and fled."
"Where to escape to?"
"The old village of Qigelong."
Li Dingguo looked at the sky. The sun had already set and it would be dark in less than an hour.
"Order all units to rest for a day and continue chasing tomorrow!"
The next day.
The army set out early.
Led by the surrendered soldiers, more than 10,000 Ming troops quickly arrived near the Qigelunglaozhai.
After observing the terrain, Sun Kewang was in a dilemma.
He looked at the winding and rugged mountain road and shook his head and said, "Dingguo, it's difficult to capture this place."
"It's really difficult!" Li Dingguo shook his head. "According to the surrendered soldiers, there is only one way up the mountain. Sha Dingzhou has set up many obstacles on the mountain road. It can be said that one man can block the way for ten thousand men!"
"Then what should we do? Attack by force?" Sun Kewang asked in a low voice.
Li Dingguo rolled his eyes at him and said, "Soldiers' lives are also lives. Moreover, our team is composed of several troops. It is not appropriate to let anyone charge in the front."
"You tell me what to do!" Sun Kewang was a little angry.
In his opinion, there will always be casualties in war, and as long as Sha Dingzhou can be destroyed, the court will accept any loss, no matter how great it is.
Li Dingguo did not think so. Sha Dingzhou's defeat was an indisputable fact, and he did not want to exchange human lives for the credit he had already obtained.
"Order the central army to set up camp directly opposite the mountain road and use antler barriers to completely block the mountain road! Also, ask the surrendered soldiers if there are other small paths in and out. If there are, send troops to block them. If not, do not relax. Each camp patrols the perimeter every day."
"Dingguo, what are you doing?" Sun Kewang asked puzzledly.
Li Dingguo chuckled: "Let's see who has more food and grass!"
The news that the Ming army had blocked the mountain road soon reached Sha Dingzhou's ears.
He slammed the table angrily: "In other words...my advantage has turned into a disadvantage?"
"That's about right... The Ming army will pay a heavy price if they go up the mountain, and our army will also pay a heavy price if they go down the mountain."
"Damn it," Sha Dingzhou slammed the table again.
"Why are you so angry, my husband? The Ming army is not attacking anyway, so we can just hide in the mountains!" Wan twisted her slender waist and came closer.
"The food stored in the village is only enough to last for one month. We will run out of food after one month!" Sha Dingzhou said gloomily.
Wan blinked her beautiful eyes, leaned forward and whispered, "Husband, do you know that there was a famous strategist named Cheng Yu during the Three Kingdoms period?"
"Cheng Yu?" Sha Dingzhou blinked, "I don't know."
Wan coughed lightly and leaned close to Sha Dingzhou's ear to ask, "Husband, can you tell me how many soldiers and civilians there are in the village?"
Sha Dingzhou thought for a moment and said, "There are about one thousand soldiers and about two thousand civilians."
"Oh, if Cheng Yu were still alive, he would say that there were one thousand soldiers in the village and two thousand stored food." Wan deliberately emphasized the word stored food.
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